The Lady or the Tiger? Hmmm...

Thoughts on The Lady or the Tiger? by Frank R. Stockton

Link to story:
http://emotionalliteracyeducation.com/classic_books_online/ladyt10.htm


I've always had a love/hate feeling about this story, and it's not changed to this day. I loved the mystery of it, yet I hated the lack of a clear-cut ending. I think that reading it, along with stories by O.Henry, helped to influence my writing style today. (I hated that sudden non-transition at the end, though: "Now, the point of the story is this...")

The answer to Stockton's title question has often come back to me through the years. The ironic thing is that, as I got older and started having relationships, I was able to understand the story better...and often changed my answer. I guess that's one of the things that make this a classic. No matter how many years ago a person read it, it can always make you stop and think with a reread. Here are some of my musings on how this story could have ended.

When I read this in high school, I was completely baffled about the ending. I'd had little experience at love, and I couldn't imagine which she'd choose. I'd vacillate each time, unable to decide. The trouble was, I had no frame of reference. Back when I first read this story, I had no idea that such things as consorts or mistresses existed. Knowing only the traditional family, I couldn't imagine that there could be any other way.

Since then, I've loved and been loved and lost. I've been the one to leave and I've been the one to fall into jealous rages. And every now and then, I'll think of this story, and suddenly I have a different decision on how the story ended. Now that I'm happily married, I find that my ending for The Lady or The Tiger? has changed once again. I can better understand what she was thinking, perhaps. If it were me, I'd send my sweetheart to the door that had the lady...anything that kept him alive. (Because, meanwhile, I'd be planning on how to get him back!)

But, to go back to the question, I think you have to look at the author, as well as the fictional princess. How was he feeling about love when he wrote it? Had he just gotten out of a bad relationship, or was he in a loving one? How well did he know a woman's mind...especially that of a jilted woman? (I have no answers to those questions, though.)

So, what of the princess? You'd have to read the story carefully, to help you decide what kind of person she is. Is she the forgiving type or the vindictive sort? How mad at this youth and the Other Woman is she, and would she be willing to share him with another? How many women do you know that are willing to share?

So...the Lady or the Tiger?

I re-read the story, paying attention to the princess' jealousy. I became fairly certain that it was important to this barbaric gal that her rival not get what belonged to the princess. And for her to think of her beloved with another woman would be too much for her to bear.

...despite the horror of seeing blood spilled in front of her, I have to believe that the princess would not let him go into another's arms easily. Is she not the most powerful woman in the country? Shouldn't she always get what she desires?

Since the young man understands his princess--or thinks he does--would he not chose the other door if he thought she was condemning him to death? If he thought that her barbaric, jealous nature won over, he would not go in the direction in which she pointed. Yet he "without the slightest hesitation, went to the door on the right, and opened it." Doesn't that tell us that he believed she had gestured to the door with the lady behind it? And, so, trusting her, he would go directly to the door that he thought would lead him to happiness. He surely thought that the door led to the lady.

Of course, the Darkside of me has always sort of rooted for the door with the tiger...

So, what is my final answer?

I think a woman's jealousy will almost always prevail when it comes to matters of the heart. "If I can't have him, no one else can" is a common way of thinking, even today.
So, it comes down to this: I believe that behind that door...

...was a tiger.

~~~

Written for Mrs. KitKat's "The Lady or The Tiger?" contest.
Thank-you, KitKat, for the blue awardicon and for chosing my essay for First Place!

I also received some interesting feedback from a fellow member of W.com:

"I thought about Diane, Charles, and Camille and the crash. A Prince, I think, would kill to keep his honor. A Princess wouldn't kill out of jealousy, she wouldn't be jealous of a common woman, she would kill him to avoid being reminded of something taken from her. So, it was the tiger. And I've never thought otherwise."
Kotaro